India asks Pak to vacate occupied Kashmir

Geneva: India has asked Pakistan to vacate its illegal occupation of a part of Kashmir and stop meddling in the affairs of the state in the name of human rights violation. ''Let me make it very clear to Pakistan that the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and will remain so for eternity. The people of Jammu and Kashmir have been active participants in the democratic processes at both the Central and state levels,’’ MP RK Singh today said in his speech in the general debate of the 135th Assembly of Inter-Parliamentary Union(IPU) in Geneva.

Responding to Pakistan earlier raising the issue of human rights violation in Kashmir, Mr Singh blamed Pakistan-sponsored cross-border terrorism itself as responsible for the situation in Kashmir. ''Pakistan has raised the issue of UN Security Council resolutions. We would suggest Pakistan to first fulfill its primary obligation under the resolutions to vacate illegal occupation of Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir,,’’ the Indian MP said. Describing Pakistan as the epicenter of global terrorism, and the mothership of global terror, he pointed out that Internationally proscribed terrorists and terror groups were freely roaming in Pakistan with impunity while the deep state in Pakistan was busy in diverting billions of dollars received as international aid for spreading terrorism globally.

On the other hand, he said, the human rights violations in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir, Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were evident to all. These people had become victims of sectarian conflict, terrorism and extreme economic hardship due to Pakistan’s authoritarian and discriminatory policies in complete disregard of human rights, he said. Therefore, Pakistan would be well-advised to focus its energies on setting its own house in order and acting against the perpetrators of terrorist attacks on its neighbors instead of ritually raking up alleged human rights violations elsewhere, Mr Singh said. ''Let me make it very clear to Pakistan that the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and will remain so for eternity.

The people of Jammu and Kashmir have been active participants in the democratic processes at both the Central and State levels,’’ he said. He lambasted Pakistan for ''misusing of this august body'' to make tendentious references about internal matters pertaining to the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. ''We call upon Pakistan to stop inciting and supporting violence and terrorism in any part of India and refrain from meddling in our internal affairs in any matter,’’ he said. (UNI)